Staff from the early years team will be on hand to provide more information and answer any questions parents and carers may have.

Efforts are being made to reschedule the Duns and Galashiels events which had to be cancelled due to the weather.

Councillor Carol Hamilton, Executive Member for Children and Young People

“This is a very important milestone in a child’s life and we would ask all parents and carers of eligible children to register with their preferred setting during enrolment week and make sure that their child has a place for this year’s session.

“There are a number of benefits to taking up these funded places as the hours help to give children a significant start to their education by encouraging them to learn through play with other children, develop their language and social skills and prepare for school.

“They also give parents time to help them get back to work, study or training and have more flexibility to organise their family life.”

Provision to be extended to 1140 hours by August 2020

From August 2020 some school catchment areas will be offering increased hours from the current 600 to 1140 hours. A report to our Executive on 21 November explained that this will be phased in across the Borders over the next two years using a four phase approach.

Councillor Carol Hamilton, Executive Member for Children and Young People

“The availability of these additional hours will provide parents with greater choice in terms of the time their child can attend and benefit from early learning and childcare. We are making good progress with our plans to deliver these to parents in the Eyemouth, Burnfoot, Coldstream, Greenlaw, Langlee, Kirkhope and Philiphaugh localities and once our funding allocation from the Scottish Government is confirmed, will then be able to look more closely at how best to make the hours available to parents in other communities.

“We know parents are keen to hear when they will be able to access the extra hours and we will let them know as soon as we can. In the meantime, if they are looking for more information, I would encourage them to come along to one of our drop-in sessions if they can, or make contact with our Early Years team.”